The more I write about these cards the more it feels like I'm unlocking a deeper part of my childhood. Whenever I looked at this card growing up, I totally assumed that Jeff Blake was just a career backup simply because I had never heard of him. While he was no Joe Montana, Jeff Blake has an interesting story, just like a lot of these players I am realizing now. I used to just flip through a lot of players before just carelessly. I feel like I am getting a much deeper knowledge of NFL history, one player at a time.

I only rant like that a bit because when I looked up Jeff Blake it fascinated me that he actually had a sort of notable NFL career. Much better than I would have guessed, anyway.

Quarterback Jeff Blake played his college football at East Carolina University from 1988-1991. He played well enough in college to somewhat sniff the Heisman Trophy, finishing seventh in voting in 1991. Blake's performance impressed the New York Jets enough to select him in the sixth round, #166 overall, in the 1992 NFL Draft.

Blake would not really do much of anything in the Big Apple. But he would find most of his success in his six seasons, 1994-1999, with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Blake was not exactly wildly successful with the Bengals, but he seemed to have moments of success and he was clearly competitive as a starting quarterback.

Blake never led the Bengals to the playoffs, and it looks like he dealt with injuries because he missed a fair amount of starts according to Pro Football Reference. BUT on a few positive notes Blake did make the 1995 Pro Bowl team! He was a local favorite in Cincy and earned himself the nickname 'Shake-N-Blake'. He had some mobility to him and so he must have been an entertaining watch.

The best record he led the Bengals to was 8-8. There was a 7-9 season in there as well and the rest is kinda just losing records and like I said, what appears to be injury riddled seasons.

Blake would leave Cincy after that 1999 season. He'd move on and have some moments of success in New Orleans and actually start a fair amount of games with other teams like the Ravens and the Cardinals a few years down the line. Jeff Blake would retire after the 2005 season as a member of the Chicago Bears. Blake played for the Jets, Bengals, Saints, Ravens, Cardinals, Eagles, and Bears in his fourteen year NFL career.

It's safe to say Jeff Blake had an interesting, journeyman type of career in the NFL. That is no insult either. There's a lot of guys that WISH they were a journeyman in the NFL. Especially at QB where some guys get paid hundreds of thousands, often times MILLIONS of dollars, to hold a clipboard as a backup QB.

QB Jeff Blake's Career Stats in 100 NFL Starts - 119 Games Appeared in Overall

• 21,711 Passing Yards
• 2,027 Rushing Yards
• 148 Total Touchdowns
  • 134 Touchdown Passes
  • 14 Rushing Touchdowns
• 1x Pro Bowl - 1995

This season captures him during his first season with the Saints. If he hadn't gotten injured, as the card states, this may have been his best season of his career, at least from a win-loss standpoint.

Perfect 90's vibes with the song and highlights...

What do you think of Jeff Blake's career?